We are in the middle of wedding season, and to help everyone who is planning for this special day, I created this list of tips to have a minimalist wedding for maximum effect. To recognize the busy wedding season, I divided this post into sections to quickly check off the tasks to make your wedding amazing. From location to wedding gift options, this post will give you all you need. Let's get started.
Elegant Minimalist Wedding for Maximum Effect
Pick a fabulous venue.
The location is key to help keep it minimal. Wherever you decide This will give you a restriction of people and will help you decide on what the other features are going to be. Places like parks maybe a little too big. But, places like beaches, arboretums, horticultural society, refurbished barn halls, banquet halls, and ski resorts in the off-season. Or, check out a destination wedding? January, February, and March are the most unpopular months for weddings. By getting married in these months, you are more likely to save money. There will probably be more availability.
Choose the Right Minimalist Theme.
Creating themes that are simplified will help you give some guidance on what to do. Look beyond the empty room and see how you can add color and flowers. Image the room when you tour around different venues.
Start with color. What do you want your accent color to be? Pick a main color and an accent color. Pick colors that are easy to find. White of course is popular but also pick a color that will be used for the accessories, the dresses, and the other areas of the wedding.
Some theme types could be a country theme, beach theme, favorite book theme, and period theme. I had a client some years ago that had a renaissance wedding. They all dressed up in renaissance attire. It looked gorgeous and simple. It was a theme they both enjoyed and wanted to share with guests.
Create beautiful invitations without breaking the bank.
Creating your own invitation will allow you to really make it about you and your partner. There are plenty of sites that will give you options. This one has some great options for you.
If you own a Cricut machine, you can find a design to make invitations that look amazing, and people will love them.
Make favor gifts that are personal to you and your partner.
I love it when an item can be cleverly used for two different duties. Homemade gifts are wonderfully popular. Create favor gifts that can also be given to people. Below are some examples:
Examples of DIY Minimalist Wedding Favor Gifts.
A piece could be a seat assignment sign displayed at the banquet hall, and then after the banquet, they can take it home as a favor gift.
You can use a small wallet size silver picture frame with the guest's name and the table number inside the frame.
You can use a small figurine, one for each guest, and they add a tag with the name and the table number on it.
Below are some things I found on Amazon (affiliate) that can be used to go along with your favor gifts.
Go one step further... Set up a fun game, and the winner wins the centerpiece on each table; that way the centerpieces will not be wasted.
Stay away from the traditional bridal gift.
Request cash as gifts instead of stuff. Stuff is definitely not minimal. You can even request honeymoon activities as a gift. I recently received a honeymoon registry card from one of our nephews who is getting married soon. It’s a great idea to allow people to pay for things they can do on their honeymoon. Experiences are so much more fun than things.
Setup a "worthy cause" donation box. Request people to donate to a worthy cause instead of giving a gift to you. This is great for second marriages when you most likely have stuff.
Below are some Wedding card boxes I found on Amazon (affiliate) you can use for both of these purposes. Buy two different ones and mark what they are for on the front.
DIY wedding decorations Ideas for a Minimalist Wedding.
Make favor gifts serving two duties. Create a seat assignment card as a favor gift for your guests. Visit places like The Dollar Tree (affiliate) for decorations to use for a wedding reception.
Repurpose vintage items like tablecloths for a hint of sophistication and repurpose. Floating candles and twinkly lights are an added easy find that is affordable and can set a relaxing and elegant mood.
Repurpose the beautiful bouquet flowers. We had silk bouquets made for our wedding. I then bought a low vase to place the bouquet in and gave it to each bridesmaid. I then took my bouquet apart, and hot glued them onto a decorative wall hat which hung on my wall for many years.
Live Bouquet made easy. Purchase wildflowers from a wholesaler in your area and add a splash of accent flowers you enjoy for a hint of your theme color while adding untraditional greens for even more depth.
Make the food and beverage represent you and your partner and your story.
In a smaller venue, have a sit-down dinner style. When my husband and I had our wedding, we had a sit-down 5-course dinner because our venue was quite a bit smaller. It was a traditional Italian meal with an appetizer, salad, pasta, meat, and dessert.
You can even create a meal around a story. What was your favorite meal when you first met, and what was the story of your meeting? Share it will the wedding attendees.
Now, let's talk about desserts, yum! Make your own desserts that represent the happy couple. Make your own bachelor cake or bride cake. Create a dessert station as well as a tiered cake. Make a cupcake arrangement instead of a formal wedding cake. Create a variety of mini desserts.
Cocktail receptions are a wonderful way to have a party after the wedding for an affordable price. How about a Mimosa bar?
A brunch buffet is beautiful too. We had friends that couldn't afford a large wedding, so instead, they did a brunch buffet and got married in the morning at a beautiful historic home.
Delicious Recipes for a Small Minimalist Wedding
If you are looking for some feed crowd recipes, below are recipe posts we used at parties and gatherings in the past. Feel free to check them out. They can be used as side dishes for your wedding.
Super Easy No Pasta Italian Wedding Soup for a Crowd
Homemade Italian Meatballs Recipe for a Crowd
Easy and Delicious Potato Salad Recipe for a Crowd
Quick and Easy Pasta Salad Recipe for a Crowd
There are so many details to deal with when planning a wedding. So, keep in mind that the simpler the tasks are, and the easier one activity flows to the next will make your wedding feel seamless and elegant. And most likely more affordable. I hope this helps you get the wedding you want. If you had a minimalist wedding, please share your tips below.
Things to Keep You and Your Guest Safe
Whenever there is a crowd, it's good to air on the side of safety. There probably will be older people, invitees with high-risk ailments, young children, and maybe even pregnant women at your party. Be sure to protect everyone by adding some or all of these tips below to your wedding.
Be sure to have signs about social distancing. I wrote a post about this in my Party Planning Tips During Covid. Feel free to check them out. There are free sign ideas and other things you can add to your wedding.
Provide hand sanitizer to your guests. Assign a few people to hold the hand sanitizer and ask them to stand near the entryway, and have them spray everyone's hands when they enter.
Notify everyone of the safety precautions in place. When sending out the invites, include a note about what will be in place to make them and you feel safer. If you are sending out physical invites, you can add a note that describes the details and include it in the envelope. If you are doing it electronically, be sure to add in the description in a place where everyone will find it.
Knowing what to expect when it comes to their safety will give you more 'yes' than 'no' responses.
But wait, while researching this topic, I found these wonderful wedding trends articles to help you get inspired for a minimalist but elegant wedding:
The Biggest Wedding Trends to Expect in 2021
The Top Wedding Trends of 2021
10 Helpful Wedding Tips To Reduce Stress
8 Simple yet Stunning Rustic Reception Decorations to Suite your Venue
Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon and at no additional cost to you, I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to make a purchase.
Linda Samuels
What a great guide and suggestions for wedding planning! Have you considered taking this on as another career? I haven't planned a wedding, but we did plan two Bat Mitzvahs, many years ago. The three-ring notebook with dividers helped me keep everything together and organized. I'm guessing that type of system would work well for a wedding too.
There are so many details in planning these events. And sometimes the details can make us crazy. The important thing is to keep a positive focus on what the event is really about. So for a wedding, it's two people committing their lives to one another being surrounded by their beloved family and friends. That is the best decoration of all!
Sabrina Quairoli
I totally agree. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. =)